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BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 


The  Bible  and  English  Prose  Style.  (D.  C. 
Heath  &  Co.,  Boston,  Mass.) 

Biblical  Quotations  in  Old  English  Prose 
Writers,  Series  I.  (The  Macmillan  Co., 
London  and  New  York.) 

Biblical  Quotations  in  Old  English  Prose 
Writers,  Series  II.  (Charles  Scribner's  Sons, 
New  York.) 


The  Authorized  Version 

of  the  Bible  and  its 

Influence 


By 

Albert  S.  Cook 

Professor  of  the  English  Language  and  Literature 
in  Yale  University 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New    York     and    London 

Zbc  fcnicherbocKer  presa 

1910 


5^ 


Copyright,  1910 

BY 

ALBERT  S.  COOK 


»  •  v«  -.•  > 


TEbc  ImCclkcrbocltet  pteee.  new  |?orfc 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

THIS  essay  was  originally  written  as 
a  chapter  for  Volume  IV  of  The 
Cambridge  History  of  English  Lit- 
erature, and  is  here  reprinted  by  the  kind 
permission  of  the  Syndics  of  the  Cam- 
bridge University  Press.  A  few  trifling 
changes  have  been  made,  and  certain  pas- 
sages, retrenched  by  the  editors  from  my 
manuscript,  in  order  to  adapt  it  to  the 
limits  of  the  assigned  space,  are  here 
restored. 

Greensboro,  Vermont, 
September,  1910. 


Ill 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/authorizedversioOOcookrich 


The  Authorized  Version  of  the 
Bible  and  its  Influence 


IF  the  Authorized  Version'  of  the  Bible 
is  the  first  English  classic,  ^  as  seems 
by  all  competent  authorities  to  be 
allowed,  two  inquiries  suggest  themselves 
— ^first,  what  is  meant  when  it  is  called  a 
classic,  and,  secondly,  what  are  the  qual- 
ities that  entitle  it  to  be  ranked  as  the 
first  classic  in  English?  In  other  words, 
it  will  be  necessary  first  to  examine  the 

« Notwithstanding  the  current  use  of  this  term,  the 
Jacobean  revision  was  never  publicly  authorized  by 
Parliament  or  Convocation,  Privy  Council  or  King.  The 
acceptance  which  it  has  enjoyed  has  been  won  chiefly  on 
its  merits. 

I 


•  •  •  • » 


2 '  *  Two  Inquiries 

Bible  as  literature,  irrespective  of  any 
translation  whatever  ;  and,  secondly,  to 
examine  its  diction  in  the  standard  Eng- 
lish translation,  in  order  to  see  whether 
the  choice  of  words,  the  mold  of  sentences, 
and  the  harmonious  disposition  of  soimds, 
are  such  as  deserve  the  highest  praise  in 
comparison  with  the  choicest  productions 
of  native  English  genius. 

These  two  inquiries,  however — the  one 
into  the  nature  of  the  Bible  considered 
as  literature,  and  the  other  into  the 
nature  of  the  English  in  which  our 
standard  version  is  written  —  will  of 
necessity  imply  some  consideration  of 
the  successive  stages  by  which  what  we 
call  the  Bible  grew  into  being,  and  of  the 
successive  stages  by  which  the  English  of 
oiir  Bible  was  gradually  selected,  imbued 
with  the  proper  meanings  and  associa- 
tions, and  ordered  into  a  fit  mediimi  for 
the  conveyance  of  the  high  thoughts  and 


No  New  Translation  3 

noble  emotions  in  which  the  original 
abounds.  Especially  is  it  true  of  our 
second  inquiry  that  no  adequate  con- 
ception of  the  language  employed  in  the 
Jacobean  version  can  be  formed,  save 
through  at  least  a  brief  survey  of  the 
series  of  English  translations  which  led 
up  to  it.  Their  indebtedness  to  their 
predecessors  is  recognized  most  clearly 
by  the  translators  of  the  Authorized 
Version,  who  say  in  their  preface : 

Truly,  good  Christian  reader,  we  never 
thought,  from  the  beginning,  that  we  should 
need  to  make  a  new  translation,  nor  yet  to  make 
of  a  bad  one  a  good  one  ;  .  .  .  but  to  make  a 
good  one  better,  or  out  of  many  good  ones  one 
principal  good  one,  not  justly  to  be  excepted 
against — that  hath  been  our  endeavor,  that  our 
mark. 

The  Bible  either  proceeds  from  divine 
inspiration,  as  some  will  have  it,  or, 
according  to  others,  is  the  fruit  of  the 


4  Character  of  the  Bible 

religious  genius  of  the  Hebrew  race. 
From  either  point  of  view,  the  authors 
are  highly  gifted  individuals,  who,  not- 
withstanding their  diversities,  and  the 
progressiveness  observable  in  their  repre- 
sentations of  the  nature  of  God,  are 
wonderfully  consistent  in  the  main  tenor 
of  their  writings,  and  serve,  in  general, 
for  mutual  confirmation  and  illustration. 
In  some  cases  this  may  be  due  to  the 
revision  of  earlier  productions  by  later 
writers,  which  has  thus  brought  more 
primitive  conceptions  into  a  degree  of 
conformity  with  maturer  and  profounder 
views  ;  but,  even  in  such  cases,  the  earlier 
conception  often  lends  itself,  without 
wrenching,  to  the  deeper  interpretation 
and  the  completer  exposition. 

The  Bible  is  not  distinctively  an  in- 
tellectual achievement.  Like  all  other 
great  works  of  literature,  it  springs  from, 
and  addresses,  human  nature  as  a  whole. 


The  Hebraic  Temper  5 

It  has  no  more  to  do  with  intellect  than 
with  sensibility,  imagination,  or  will.  In 
fact,  if  it  be  more  concerned  with  one  of 
these  faculties  than  another,  sensibility, 
the  sphere  of  the  emotions,  is  the  one  that 
has  pre-eminence  over  the  rest. 

The  character  of  the  Bible  as  a  whole 
is  best  imderstood  by  regarding  the  Old 
Testament  as  its  representative,  and 
devoting  attention  primarily  to  that. 
It  is  the  Hebraic  temper,  and  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  Hebrew  genius,  that  give  the 
Bible  a  imique  place  among  books  ;  and 
these  racial  traits  were  much  less  subject 
to  modification  by  alien  influences — * 
such  as  that  of  Greek  culture — ^in  the 
period  covered  by  the  Old  Testament 
than  during  the  epoch  in  which  the 
composition  of  the  New  Testament  was 
effected.  Much  of  the  difficulty,  for 
example,  encountered  in  the  adequate 
rendering    of    St.    Paul's    epistles  into 


6  Themes  of  the  Bible 

another  tongue  is  due  to  elements  in  his 
writing  which  are  not  common  to  him 
and  the  writers  of  the  Old  Testament, 
but  belong  specifically  to  him  as  one  who 
had  received  a  tincture  of  Greek  learning, 
which,  in  modifying  his  thought,  had 
also  modified  his  speech.  The  tone  of 
the  Bible,  then,  is  given  to  it  by  the 
Old  Testament,  which  therefore  may 
be  considered  as  the  type  of  the 
whole. 

Its  themes  are  the  greatest  that  litera- 
ture can  treat.  They  may  be  reduced  to 
three — God,  man,  and  the  physical  imi- 
verse.  The  physical  imiverse  is  regarded 
as  subordinate  and  even  subject  to  man, 
within  the  measure  of  his  capacity  and 
needs,  while  man  in  his  turn  is  subject  to 
God.  The  visible  creation  reveals  the 
wisdom,  power,  and  skill  of  its  Maker. 
Man's  constitution  being  related  to  that 
of  the  world  about  him,  he  finds  in  the 


Narrative,  Poetry,  Prophecy       7 

latter  provision  for  his  physical  wants, 
and  a  certain  satisfaction,  falling,  how- 
ever, short  of  the  highest,  for  his  spiritual 
cravings.  The  relations  of  one  human 
being  to  another,  and  of  all  spiritual 
existences  among  themselves,  are  partly 
matters  of  positive  ordinance,  and  partly 
to  be  inferred  from  their  relations  to 
God.  Thus,  if  God  is  the  Father  of  all, 
all  men  are  brethren.  God  is  represented 
as  desiring  to  draw  man  into  closer  and 
closer  union  with  Himself,  or  as  restoring 
man  to  his  original  condition  of  friend  and 
trustful  child.  Such  eventual  and  com- 
plete restoration  is  to  be  effected  through 
the  agency  of  the  Hebrew  people,  but  par- 
ticularly of  certain  leaders — patriarchs, 
prophets,  and  others — who  accordingly 
are  made  the  subjects  of  more  or  less 
extended  biographies. 

Speaking  generally,  the  three  species  of 
literature  in  the  Old  Testament,  succeed- 


8  Narrative 

ing  one  another  in  the  order  of  time,'  are : 
narrative,  poetry  —  chiefly  lyrical  —  and 
prophecy.  In  the  New  Testament,  the 
epistles  may  be  said  to  represent  pro- 
phecy, and  the  Revelation  to  be  partly 
of  a  prophetic,  and  partly  of  a  poetical, 
character,  so  far  as  these  two  can  be 
distingtiished. 

Narrative,  then,  comes  first  in  order 
of  time,  as  in  order  of  books.  It  deals 
with  the  early  history  of  mankind,  and 
the  great  epochs,  especially  the  earlier, 
in  the  history  of  the  Hebrew  race.  As 
suggested  above,  it  delineates  history 
largely  under  the  form  of  biography,  its 
most  universally  interesting  form,  and 
these  biographies  are  full  of  ups  and 
downs,  of  lights  and  shadows,  both  in 
characters  and  events.  Conceived  as 
affecting   the   ultimate   destinies   of   all 

»  From  another  point  of  view,  poetry  precedes  the  other 
two.  The  matter  of  chronology  is  one  which  does  not 
admit  of  exact  determination. 


Poetry  and  Prophecy  9 

mankind,  and  indeed  of  every  individual 
soul,  these  lives,  presented  in  bold  and 
picturesque  outlines,  are  among  the  most 
enthralling  of  stories. 

Next  in  order  to  the  narrative  books, 
thus  filled  with  matter  of  deepest  import 
and  overwhelming  interest  to  the  race, 
come  the  poetic  books,  of  which  the 
Psalter  is  the  chief.  Some  of  the  Psalms 
are  foimded  upon  chapters  of  the  national 
history,  and  all  presuppose  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  national  rehgion.  In  turn, 
the  Psalms  of  an  earlier  period  are  sub- 
ject to  reworking  at  a  later  epoch,  in 
order  to  express  more  perfectly  the  senti- 
ments of  the  individual  or  the  religious 
commimity.  The  same  staple  of  matter 
thus  reappears  in  a  variety  of  forms,  all 
of  them  charged  with  sincerity,  fervor,  or 
even  passion. 

The  prophetic  books  form  the  third 
main  division.     After  story  and  song  come 


10  Unity  of  Theme 

monition  and  reproof,  mingled  with  pre- 
dictions of  a  better  time.  The  prophet 
has  much  in  common  with  the  poet,  but 
is  more  didactic,  and  is  concerned  with 
the  national  life  rather  than  with  the 
individual.  Like  the  poet,  the  prophet 
rehearses  or  alludes  to  God's  dealings 
with  His  people,  so  that  continuity  of 
motive  is  maintained  throughout.  A 
projection  into  the  future  opens  up  occa- 
sional vistas  of  limitless  range  and  sur- 
passing beauty,  which  give  scope  and 
direction  to  such  hopes  as  men  are  prone 
to  conceive  for  themselves  or  their 
descendants. 

/-  /The  first  condition  of  great  literature 
'  is  a  imity  of  theme  and  concept  that 
shall  give  coherence  and  organization  to 
all  detail,  however  varied.  By  this  test 
the  Bible  is  great  literature.  One  in- 
creasing purpose  runs  through  the  whole, 


Earnestness  of  Treatment       ii 

and  is  reflected  in  the  widening  and 
deepening  thought  of  the  writers';  yet 
it  is  a  purpose  which  exists  germinally 
at  the  beginning,  and  iinfolds  like  a  bud. 
Thus  all  the  principal  books  are  linked  and 
even  welded  together,  and  to  the  common 
consciousness  form,  as  it  were,  but  a  single 
book — ^rather  r6  /3i/3\iov  than  ra  fiifiXia. 
>(  By  far  the  greater  part  of  the  books 
which  the  world  has  agreed  to  call 
classic — that  is,  permanently  enjoyable 
and  permanently  helpful — ^are  marked 
by  dignity  of  theme  and  earnestness  of 
treatment.  The  theme  or  themes  of  the 
Bible  are  of  the  utmost  comprehensive- 
ness, depth,  and  poignancy  of  appeal. 
In  the  treatment  there  is  nowhere  a  trace 
of  levity  or  insincerity  to  be  detected. 
The  heart  of  a  man  is  felt  to  be  pulsating 
behind  every  line.  There  is  no  straining 
for  effect,  no  obtrusive  ornament,  no 
complacent  parading  of  the  devices  of  art. 


12  Breadth  and  Vigor 

Great  matters  are  presented  with  warmth 
of  sentiment,  in  a  simple  style ;  and 
nothing  is  more  likely  to  render  Uterature 
enduring. 

Another  trait  of  good  literature  ex- 
emplified by  the  Bible  is  breadth.  Take, 
for  example,  the  story  of  Jacob,  the 
parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son,  or  St.  Paul's 
speech  on  Mars'  hill.  Only  the  essen- 
tials are  given.  There  is  no  petty  and 
befogging  detail.  The  characters,  the 
events,  or  the  arguments,  stand  out  with 
clearness,  even  with  boldness.  An  in- 
clusive and  central  effect  is  produced 
with  a  few  masterly  strokes,  so  that  the 
resulting  impression  is  one  of  conciseness 
and  economy. 

Closely  associated  with  this  quality  of 
breadth  is  that  of  vigor.  The  authors 
of  the  Bible  have  no  time  nor  mind  to 
spend  upon  the  elaboration  of  curiosities, 
or    upon    minute    and    trifling    points. 


Subjectivity  13 

Every  sentence,  nay,  every  word,  must 
count.  The  spirit  which  animates  the 
whole  must  inform  every  particle.  There 
is  no  room  for  delicate  shadings  ;  the 
issues  are  too  momentous,  the  concerns 
too  pressing,  to  admit  of  introducing 
anything  that  can  be  spared.  A  volume 
is  compressed  into  a  page,  a  page  into  a 
line. 

And  God  said,  Let  there  be  light,  and  there 
was  light. 

Jesus  wept. 

It  would  not  be  diffictdt  to  show  how 
all  these  qualities  flow  necessarily  from 
the  intense  preoccupation  of  the  Bibli- 
cal authors  with  matters  affecting  all 
they  held  dear,  all  their  hopes  and  fears 
with  respect  to  their  country,  their  family, 
and  themselves,  at  the  present  and  in  a 
boundless  future .  Even  when  the  phrases 
employed  seem  cool  and  measured,  they 


14       Hebrew  and  Greek  Lyrics 

represent  a  compressed  energy  like  that  of 
a  tightly  coiled  spring,  tending  to  actuate 
effort  and  stiniggle  of  many  kinds,  and  to 
open  out  into  arts  and  civilizations  of 
which  the  Hebrew  never  dreamed. 

In  a  sense,  then,  it  is  the  lyrical  faculty 
that  distinguishes  the  Hebrew  author. 
Yet  he  is  not  an  ^olian  harp,  delicately 
responsive  to  every  zephyr  of  sentiment. 
His  passions  are  few  and  elemental,  and, 
as  we  have  seen,  are  prone  to  utter  them- 
selves energetically.  One  is  tempted  to 
compare  the  Great  Lyric,  as  it  has  been 
called,  of  the  Hebrew,  with  the  effusions, 
or  rather  the  creations,  of  Sappho  and 
Pindar.  Yet  Sappho  and  Pindar  must 
suffer  in  the  comparison.  Addison  speaks 
of  Horace  and  Pindar  as  showing,  when 
confronted  with  the  Psalms,  'an  absurdity 
and  confusion  of  style,*  and  *  a  compara- 
tive poverty  of  imagination.'  As  for  Sap- 
pho, her  longest  extant  production,  while 


Lyrical  Intensity  15 

intense,  shows,  in  conjunction  with  the 
shorter  fragments,  that  her  deeper  emo- 
tion is  Hmited  in  range,  and,  because  of 
this  limitation,  and  the  tropical  fervor 
displayed,  is  less  universal  in  its  appeal 
than  the  best  lyrical  outpourings  of  the 
Hebrew  genius.  These  include  not  only 
the  Psalms,  but  much  of  Job,  the  best 
of  the  prophets,  a  good  deal  of  the 
Apocalypse,  occasional  passages  of  St. 
Paul,  and  even  parts  of  the  narrative 
books,  especially  those  which  report  the 
utterances  of  notable  persons. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  the  Hebrews 
of  the  Old  Testament  were  incapable  of 
producing  either  drama  or  fiction,  and, 
one  might  add,  the  leisurely  develop- 
ments of  the  epic.  This  is  only  another 
way  of  affirming  their  lyrical  intensity 
and  preoccupation.  The  destruction  of 
Sennacherib's  host  is  related  with  exulta- 
tion, and  the  historian  of  Exodus  rejoices 


i6  Lyrical  Intensity 

over  the  destruction  of  the  Egyptians 
in  the  Red  Sea.  He  is  no  more  dis- 
passionate than  Tacitus  in  excoriating 
Nero,  or  Joinville  in  his  devotion  to  St. 
Louis.  Events  are  never  displayed  in 
that  'dry  light/  so  dear,  as  they  supposed, 
to  Heraclitus  and  Francis  Bacon.  Al- 
ways there  are  postulates  which  nothing 
cotild  induce  the  writer  to  discard. 
There  is  always  a  presumption  in  favor 
of  monotheism,  of  God's  protecting  or 
punitive  care  for  the  people  of  Israel,  of 
their  eventual  deliverance  and  full  en- 
trance upon  their  divinely  ordained 
mission.  The  poet  or  prophet  could 
never  be  brought  to  admit  that  there 
might  be  gods  many,  nor  that  the  Hebrew 
people  were  not  foreordained  to  pre- 
eminence over  Philistines  and  Assyrians. 
But  this  egoism,  this  racial  pride,  which 
manifest  themselves  by  a  strong  coloring 
and  a  decided  tone,  and  which  are  at  the 


Universality  17 

furthest  possible  remove  from  scientific 
indifferentism,  do  not  prevent  the  Bible 
from  possessing  a  universality  which  has 
placed  it  at  the  foundation,  or  the  head, 
or  both,  of  all  modem  literatures.  There 
are  several  reasons  for  this.  Every  one 
is  interested  in  the  origin  of  the  world  and 
of  man.  It  may  be  warrantably  urged 
that  no  other  literature  gives  so  plain  and 
coherent  an  accoimt  of  these  origins,  and 
of  the  early  history  of  mankind,  as  the 
book  of  Genesis.  Next,  the  Bible  em- 
phasizes the  conception  that  all  nations 
are  of  one  blood,  and  that  all  men  are 
brethren,  since  their  Father  is  one.  This, 
in  satisfying  the  social  instinct,  has 
tended  more  and  more  to  draw  tribe  to 
tribe,  and  kingdom  to  kingdom,  as  well 
as  individual  to  individual,  and,  in- 
directly, has  appealed  to  national  and 
personal  ambition.  Thirdly,  the  morality 
of  the  Bible,   even  where  it  takes  the 


1 8  Universality 

form  of  statutory  enactments,  keeps  in 
view  the  interests  of  individual  happi- 
ness and  social  well-being.  Fourthly,  the 
Hebrew  race  is  presented  as  in  some  sort 
the  prototype,  or  the  beneficent  elder 
brother,  of  all  other  races  and  nationali- 
ties, so  that  any  of  its  experiences  are 
likely  to  find  a  parallel  in  subsequent  his- 
tory, or  even  to  help  in  making  subse- 
quent history.  Fifthly,  the  future  of 
mankind  is  regarded  in  the  Bible  as 
bound  up  with  the  general  acceptance 
of  Hebrew  principles  and  ideals.  Sixthly, 
the  utmost  fulness  of  individual  life  is 
represented  as  conditional  upon  the  ac- 
ceptance of  that  God  who  first  distinctly 
revealed  Himself  to  the  Hebrews,  upon 
obedience  to  Him,  and  upon  spiritual 
union  with  Him.  With  this  is  associ- 
ated the  Messianic  hope  of  a  Deliverer, 
who,  greater  than  His  brethren,  yet  even 
as    they,    should    serve    to    bring    God 


Subjectivity  and  Universality    19 

down  to  man,  and  lift  man  up  to  God. 
These,  perhaps,  are  reasons  enough  why, 
notwithstanding  the  lyric  note  which  is 
everywhere  heard  throughout  the  Bible, 
it  possesses  also  a  character  of  tmivers- 
ality,  and,  one  might  also  say,  of  imper- 
sonality. Thus,  the  Psalter,  the  most 
lyrical  part  of  the  Bible,  is  perhaps  the 
widest  in  its  appeal  of  any,  simply  be- 
cause the  cry  of  the  individual  believer, 
however  impassioned,  finds  an  echo  in 
every  other  believing  soul,  and  is  not  with- 
out some  response  from  even  the  most 
apathetic. 

As  to  form,  in  the  sense  of  order  and 
proportion,  it  is  often  assimied  that  the 
Greeks  alone  possessed  its  secret  in 
antiquity,  and  bequeathed  some  hint  of  it 
to  the  modem  world.  Perhaps,  in  an 
endeavor  to  vindicate  for  the  Hebrews 
a  sense  of  form,  we  may  best  appeal  to 
authority ;    and    if    so,  we    can    hardly 


20     Proportion,  Measure,  Taste 

decline  to  accept  the  judgment  of  a  man 
who,  classically  educated,  and  possessed 
of  a  Frenchman's  love  of  order  and 
beauty,  was  a  Semitic  scholar  of  unusual 
scope  and  insight.  It  was  Renan  who 
said  : 

Israel  had,  like  Greece,  the  gift  of  disengaging 
its  idea  perfectly,  and  of  expressing  it  in  a  con- 
cise and  finished  outline  ;  proportion,  measure, 
taste,  were,  in  the  Orient,  the  exclusive  privilege 
of  the  Hebrew  people,  and  because  of  this  they 
succeeded  in  imparting  to  thought  and  feeling 
a  form  general  and  acceptable  to  all  mankind. 

It  is  true  that,  if  we  regard  the  technicali- 
ties of  literary  construction,  a  book  of  the 
Bible  will  not  infrequently  seem  to  fall 
short ;  but  this  is  because  the  author  is  not 
intent  upon  structure  of  a  patent  and 
easily  definable  sort.  If  he  secures  unity 
of  impression  with  variety  in  detail,  it  is 
often  by  the  use  of  other  means,  and 
especially  through  an  intrinsic  and  en- 


An  English  Classic  21 

thralling  power  which  pervades  his  whole 
composition.  Structure  in  the  more 
usual  sense  is,  however,  to  be  found  in 
limited  portions,  such  as  the  story  of 
Joseph,  a  single  prophecy,  or  a  speech 
from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  above  to 
show  what  there  is  in  the  constitution 
and  qualities  of  the  Bible  entitling  it  to 
be  called  a  classic.  In  what  follows,  the 
aim  will  be  to  consider  the  process  by 
which  it  became  an  English  classic,  and 
the  influence  it  has  exerted,  and  con- 
tinues to  exert,  in  that  capacity.  Before 
attempting  this  directly,  however,  we 
shall  need  briefly  to  examine  the  prob- 
lem which  it  presents  to  the  translator. 

The  nature  of  the  Hebrew  language 
first  demands  consideration.  Its  most 
noticeable  feature  is  its  deficiency  in 
abstract  and  general  terms.     It  has  no 


22        The  Hebrew  Language 

philosophical  or  scientific  vocabulary. 
Nearly  every  word  presents  a  concrete 
meaning,  clearly  visible  even  through  a 
figurative  use.  Many  of  its  roots  are 
palpably  verbal,  and  the  physical  activity 
underlying  each  word  is  felt  through  all 
its  special  applications.  Thus,  to  take 
a  single  example,  there  is  a  Hebrew  word 
variously  rendered  in  the  following  pas- 
sages by  hvd,  east,  springs  outgoing,  going 
out. 

Job  38.  27  :  To  cause  the  hud  of  the  tender 
herb  to  spring  forth. 

Psalms  75.  6  :  For  promotion  cometh  neither 
from  the  east  nor  from  the  west. 

2  Kings  2.  21  :  And  he  went  forth  unto  the 
spring  of  the  waters. 

Psalms  65.  8  :  Thou  makest  the  outgoings  of 
the  morning  and  evening  to  rejoice. 

2  Sam.  3.  25  :  Thou  knowest  .  .  .  that  he 
came  to  deceive  thee,  and  to  know  thy  going 
out  and  thy  coming  in,  and  to  know  all  that 
thou  doest. 


Motion,  Activity,  Life  23 

In  every  one  of  these  cases  the  Hebrew 
word  means  'going  out*  or  'going  forth,* 
and  the  Hebrew  so  understands  it  ; 
but  the  'going  forth'  of  the  sun  is  one 
thing,  and  that  of  the  waters  another. 
Now,  if  we  could  suppose  the  word  'bud' 
or  'east*  in  Enghsh  to  present  to  the 
imagination,  as  transparently  as  does 
'spring,*  the  original  activity  which  the 
word  records,  we  should  better  imder- 
stand  what  is  true  of  practically  all 
Hebrew  words.  Everywhere  we  are  face 
to  face  with  motion,  activity,  life.  Of 
the  Hebrew  words  for  pride,  one  presents 
the  notion  of  moimting  up,  one  of  strut- 
ting, and  one  of  seething,  as  a  boiling  pot. 
What  fundamental  idea  of  similar  con- 
creteness  does  the  English  word  'pride' 
suggest? 

There  were  not  many  abstract  ideas 
to  be  conveyed  in  Biblical  Hebrew  ;  the 
absence  of  the  words  is  a  sign  of  the 


24         Language  not  Abstract 

absence  of  the  ideas.  Such  a  sentence 
as  '  The  problem  of  external  perception  is 
a  problem  in  metaphysics/  or  'The  mod- 
ifications produced  within  our  nervous 
system  are  the  only  states  of  which  we 
can  have  a  direct  consciousness/  would 
be  untranslatable  into  ancient  Hebrew. 
It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  every 
generalization — or,  better,  every  general 
truth — expressed  by  the  Hebrew  is  ren- 
dered with  the  utmost  directness,  and  in 
phraseology  as  pictorial,  as  elemental, 
as  transparent,  as  stimulative  to  imagi- 
nation and  feeling,  as  could  possibly  be. 
^  Such  a  language  is  the  very  language  of 
poetry.  The  medium  through  which 
poetry  works  is  the  world  of  sensible 
objects — wine  and  oil,  the  cedar  of 
Lebanon,  the  young  lion,  the  moon,  the 
cloud,  the  smoking  hills,  the  wild  goat, 
the  coney,  and  the  stork  ;  or,  if  we  turn 
to  Homer  rather  than  the   Psalmist,  a 


Concrete  Expressions  25 

plane-tree,  the  bright  water  of  a  spring, 
a  snake  blood-red  on  the  back,  the  cheep- 
ing brood  of  a  sparrow,  or  beaked  ships 
and  well  greaved  Achaians.  What  is 
necessary  in  order  to  make  poetry  out 
of  such  materials  is  intensity  of  feeling, 
with  elevation  and  coherence  of  thought. 
These,  we  have  seen,  were  the  endowment 
of  the  Hebrews.  On  the  one  hand,  they 
were  close  to  nature ;  they  had  not 
parceled  out  their  human  constitution 
into  separate  and  independent  faculties  ; 
they  had  not  interposed  a  cloud  and 
hubbub  of  words  between  themselves 
and  things  ;  they  had  not  so  dissipated 
their  powers  in  minute  and  laborious 
analysis  that  they  were  incapable  of 
naive  views,  powerful  sensations,  and 
vigorous  convictions.  On  the  other  hand, 
they  had,  as  tending  to  coherence  and 
elevation  of  thought,  what  to  them  was 
a  sufficient  explanation  of  all  the  wonders 


26  Simple  Structure 

of  the  universe,  and  a  sufficient  imptilse 
to  lift  up  their  hearts :  these  they  found 
in  their  overmastering  belief  in  God  the 
Creator,  God  the  Maintainer,  and,  for 
those  who  trust  and  love  Him,  God  the 
Deliverer. 

//  But  not  only  were  their  words  concrete, 
the  structure  of  their  sentences  was 
simple,  while  of  the  paragraph,  in  the 
1  Greek  sense,  they  had  hardly  any  con- 
ception, until,  in  the  New  Testament, 
we  find  their  diction  fallen  tmder  Greek 
influence.  Their  chief  connective  ^as 
'and*;  hence  the  periodic  sentence  was 
virtually  beyond  their  scope.  The  verse 
was  their  stylistic  imit ;  and  a  sequence  of 
verses — or  of  sentences  about  the  length 
of  what  we  understand  by  the  average 
Biblical  verse — ^was  all  that  they  aimed 
at  achieving  in  composition. 

Their  poetry   was    measured,   not  by 
feet,  as  in  ancient  Latin  and  Greek,  but 


Parallelism  2^ 

by  word-accents,  as  in  the  most  ancient 
poetry  of  many  nations,  including  that 
of  our  English  ancestors.  Moreover, 
Hebrew  poetry  was  dominated  by  the 
principle  of  parallelism  of  members.  Often 
these  members  are  arranged  in  couplets, 
but  sometimes  they  include  several  lines. 
The  three  primary  forms  of  parallelism 
are  the  synonymous,  the  synthetic,  and 
the  antithetic.     Thus,  synonymous  : 

Psalms  15.  I :  (a)  Lord,  who  shall  abide  in  thy 
tabernacle?  (6)  who  shall  dwell  in  thy  holy 
hill? 

Synthetic  (a  succeeding  line  or  lines 
supplementing  or  completing  the  first)  : 

Psalms  14.  2  :  (a)  The  Lord  looked  down  from 
heaven  upon  the  children  of  men,  (6)  to  see  if 
there  were  any  that  did  understand,  and  seek 
God. 

Antithetic : 

Prov.  10.  I  :  (a)  A  wise  son  maketh  a  glad 


28  Parallelism 

father,  (b)  but  a  foolish  son  is  the  heaviness  of 
his  mother. 

Besides    these,    there    are   variations, 
such  as  climactic  parallelism,  where  an. 
expression  in  the  first  line  is  repeated  in 
one  or  more  that  follow : 

Psalms  24.  8  :  (a)  The  Lord  strong  and  mighty, 
(b)  the  Lord  mighty  in  battle. 

The  formation  of  the  strophe,  and 
devices  such  as  the  refrain,  are  less  im- 
portant. What  is  chiefly  to  be  noted 
is,  first,  that  Hebrew  poetry  has  a  de- 
cided accentual  rhythm,  and,  secondly, 
that  the  dominant  principle  in  the  imion 
of  lines  into  larger  groups  is  that  of 
paralleUsm.  The  controlling  rhythm  is 
therefore  the  rhythm  of  meaning,  what 
Watts-Dimton  has  called  'sense-rhythm,' 
this  being,  as  he  observes,  the  rhythm 
of  nature.     Stanley  eloquently  says  : 

*The  rapid  stroke  as  of  alternate  wings,'  'the 


Poetical  Prose  29 

heaving  and  sinking  as  of  the  troubled  heart,* 
which  have  been  beautifully  described  as  the 
essence  of  the  parallel  structure  of  Hebrew  verse, 
are  exactly  suited  for  the  endless  play  of  human 
feeling,  and  for  the  understanding  of  every  age 
and  nation. 

Much  of  Hebrew  prose  was  poetical, 
in  the  sense  that  it  employed  these  de- 
vices to  a  greater  or  less  extent ;  and  all  of 
it  was  poetical  in  the  sense  described 
above  in  the  discussion  of  the  Hebrew 
vocabulary.  The  prophets,  in  particular, 
frequently  rise  into  a  strain  which  is 
hardly  distinguishable  from  poetry. 

The  qualities,  then,  which  fitted  the 
Bible,  beyond  any  other  book  of  the 
world,  for  translation,  are,  among  others, 
these : 

-/  (a)  Universality  of  interest.  There 
is  much  in  it  for  the  meanest  and  most 
illiterate,  and  its  treasures  are  not  to 
be  exhausted  by  the  wisest.     It  touches 


7 


30  Concreteness,  Simplicity,  Rhythm 

every  person  at  more  points  than  any 
other  book  that  can  be  named. 

(b)  The  concreteness  and  pictiir- 
esqueness   of  its   language,  appealing 

/alike  to  the  child  and  the  poet,  while 
suggesting  abimdant  reflection  to  the 
philosopher. 

(c)  The  simplicity  of  its  structure, 
V        which  requires  little  more  from  the 

translator  than  that  he  shall  render 
with  fidelity  one  brief  clause  at  a  time, 
and  follow  it  by  the  next. 

(d)  A  rhythm  largely  independent  of 
the  features,  prosodical  or  other,  of  any 
individual  language — a  rhythm  free, 
varied,  and  indeterminate,  or,  rather, 
determinate  only  by  what  has  been 
called  'the  energy  of  the  spirit  which 
sings  within  the  bosom  of  him  who 
speaks,'  and  therefore  adaptable  to 
every  emotion,  from  the  most  delicate 
to  the  most  energetic. 


The  Good  Translator  31 

It  follows  that  the  sway  of  the  original  is 
so  powerful  that  hardly  any  translation 
will  be  devoid  of  merit,  while  infinite 
room  is  still  left  for  felicities  of  detail, 
according  to  the  character  of  the  medium, 
and  the  skill  and  taste  of  the  translator. 

Among  the  qualifications  of  a  good 
translator,  the  first  imdoubtedly  is  that 
he  shall  be  penetrated  by  a  sense  of  the 
surpassing  value  of  his  original,  and  by  a 
corresponding  sense  of  the  importance 
of  his  task.  This  will  preserve  him  from 
flippancy  and  meanness,  by  imbuing  him 
with  earnestness  and  humility.  It  will 
make  him  ready  to  follow  wherever  he 
is  led  by  the  text,  and  will  prevent  him 
from  pluming  himself  upon  prettiness  of 
phrase,  or  any  fancies  of  his  own.  Such  a 
translator  will  strive  with  all  his  might 
after  fidelity  to  word  and  sense,  and 
after  the  utmost  clearness  and  simplicity 


32        Jerome  and  the  Vulgate 

of  rendering,  avoiding  on  the  one  hand  the 
trivial,  and  on  the  other  the  ornate  or 
pompous.  He  will  conform  to  the  genius 
of  his  own  tongue,  while  endeavoring 
to  transfer  to  it  the  treasures  of  another  ; 
and,  besides  possessing  naturally,  he  will 
cultivate  in  every  proper  way,  a  sensitive- 
ness to  that  music  of  the  phrase  which  in 
the  case  of  the  Bible  is  but  another  name 
for  the  music  of  the  heart.  Only  a  few 
translators  have  united  these  endow- 
ments in  a  just  proportion,  but  among 
them  must  be  coimted  Jerome,  the  first 
of  the  great  translators  whom  we  know 
by  name,  the  author — ^though  he  called 
himself  rather  the  reviser — of  the  Latin 
Vulgate. 

Of  Jerome's  fitness  for  his  task  the 
following  illustration  will  serve.  It  is 
worthy  of  attention,  moreover,  as  present- 
ing the  verses  contained  in  the  various 
English  specimens  which  will  follow  : 


Popular  Language  33 

Exod.  19.  16,  18,  19  :  Jamgue  advenerat 
tertius  dies,  et  mane  inclaruerat,  et  ecce  cosperunt 
audiri  tonitruay  et  micare  fulgura,  et  nuhes 
densissima  operire  montem,  clangor  que  buccince 
vehementius  perstrepebat,  et  timuit  populus  qui 
erat  in  castris,  .  .  .  Totus  autem  mons  Sinai 
fumabat,  eo  quod  descendisset  Dominus  super  eum 
in  igne,  et  ascenderet  fumus  ex  eo  quasi  defornace; 
eratque  omnis  mons  terribilis.  Et  sonitus  buc- 
cince  paulatim  crescebat  in  majus,  et  prolixius 
tendebatur. 

The  language  into  which  the  Bible  can 
be  most  perfectly  rendered  will,  in  the 
first  place,  be  popular,  in  distinction 
from  artificial  or  scholastic.  Its  vocab- 
ulary will  consist  of  such  words  as  ordinary 
people  would  naturally  use  to  describe 
objects,  or  utter  their  emotions.  It  will 
aboimd  in  concrete  expressions,  and  need 
but  few  learned  or  recondite  terms. 
The  words  should,  if  possible,  exhibit  their 
primitive  meaning  on  their  face,  or,  at 
least,  suggest  immediately  a  single  central 


34         Rhythmical  Language 

meaning  which  can  be  accepted  as  radical 
and  primary.  They  must,  in  general, 
while  racy  and  vernacular,  be  free  from 
degrading  or  belittling  associations,  so 
that  they  may  be  equally  suitable  for  the 
middle  or  ordinary  style  and  for  passages 
of  any  degree  of  elevation  up  to  the 
highest.  A  considerable  proportion  of 
them  must  possess  sonority,  or  contain 
such  admixtures  of  vowels  and  musical 
consonants  as  will  insure,  according  to 
the  need,  a  scale  of  melodious  effects 
ranging  from  serene  and  quiet  har- 
monies to  rich  and  rolling  crescendos — 
but  all  without  appearance  of  effort, 
instinctively  responsive  to  the  situation, 
and  to  the  feeling  which  the  situation 
evokes.  If  the  rhythmical  effects  of  a 
language  are  attained  through  the  alter- 
nation of  stressed  and  unstressed  syllables, 
such  a  language  will  so  far  resemble  the 
Hebrew,  and  serve  as  a  nattiral  medium 


Old  English  35 

for  the  transmission  of  the  original  effects. 

The  influences  which  molded  the  Eng- 
lish language  into  a  proper  vehicle  for  so 
stupendous  a  Kterary  creation  as  the 
Bible  must  next  be  briefly  considered. 
Early  in  the  eighth  century,  Bede  was 
making  a  translation  into  Old  English  of 
the  Gospel  of  John,  and  about  the  year 
800  A.D.  the  language  was  already  capable 
of  such  poetry  as  this  from  the  Christ  of 
Cynewulf^: 

Thereupon  from  the  fotir  comers  of  the  world, 
from  the  uttermost  regions  of  earth,  angels 
all-shining  shall  with  one  accord  blow  their 
crashing  trumpets  ;  the  earth  shall  tremble  under 
men.  Glorious  and  steadfast  they  shall  sound 
together  over  against  the  course  of  the  stars, 
chanting  in  harmony  and  making  melody  from 
south  and  from  north,  from  east  and  from  west, 
throughout  the  whole  creation.  All  mankind 
shall  they  wake  from  the  dead  unto  the  Last 

»L1.  878-889,  Whitman's  translation. 


36  Old  English 

Judgment ;  they  shall  rouse  the  sons  of  men  all 
aghast  from  the  ancient  earth,  bidding  them 
straightway  arise  from  their  deep  sleep. 

Throughout  the  Old  English  period, 
most  of  the  literature  produced  was 
strongly  colored  by  BibUcal  diction.  Even 
a  work  like  Bede's  Ecclesiastical  History 
of  the  English  People  was  under  this 
influence.  By  about  the  year  looo,  the 
language  was  able  to  render  the  Latin  of 
Jerome,  as  given  above,  in  the  following 
form^  (Exod.  19.  16,  18,  19)  : 

J>a  cOm  se  J'rydda  daeg,  and  ligetta  and  Ininor 
and  }>icce  genip  oferwreh  fone  munt,  and  byman 
swgg  wass  gehired,  and  eall  faet  folc  him  ondred 
J>e  waes  on  fam  fyrdwicon.  .  .  .  And  eall  Sinai 
munt  smgac,  forfamfe  Drihten  waes  uppan  him 
on  fyre;  and  se  smic  aras  of  him,  and  eall  se  munt 

*  The  vowel-sounds  of  either  Italian,  French,  or  German 
will  be  siifl&ciently  close.  The  characters  5  and  j>  represent 
th;  g  before  or  after  e  or  i  is  usually  like  y.  Final  eis 
pronounced  somewhat  like  that  in  liveih,  or  the  final  e  of 
German.    The  macron  indicates  length  of  vowel. 


Middle  English  37 

waes  egeslic.    And  faere  byman  sweg  w5ox  swa 
leng  swa  s^tsor.  * 

Before  we  leave  this  part  of  the  subject, 
it  may  be  added  that,  according  to  the 
computations  of  Marsh,  about  93  per  cent 
of  the  words  of  the  Authorized  Version, 
counting  repetitions  of  the  same  word, 
are  native  English. 

The  Ormulum  and  Piers  Plowman  will 
suggest  the  influence  exerted  by  the 
Bible  on  English  diction  during  the 
period  between  a.d.  iooo  and  1400 — 
roughly  speaking,  between  the  age  of 
-^Ifric  and  that  of  Wyclif.  The  poetry 
near  the  end  of  this  period  is  better  able 
than  prose  to  cope  with  the  difficulties  of 
translation.     Thus,  Chaucer  has  :  ^ 

Caste  alle  awey  the  werkes  of  derknesse, 
And  armeth  you  in  armure  of  brightnesse  ; 

'  iElf ric's  versions  of  the  same  passage  may  be  foimd  in 
his  Homilies,  ed.  Thorpe,  i.  312;  2.  196,  202. 
*  Second  Nun's  Tale  384-5. 


38  Middle  English 

where  the  second  Wyclifite  version  reads  : 

Rom.  13.  12  :  Therfor  caste  we  awei  the 
werkis  of  derknessis,  and  be  we  clothid  in  the 
armeris  of  li5t. 

Though  this  second  version,  that  of 
Purvey  (1388),  is  in  general  much  less 
pedantically  literal  than  the  first,  made 
some  eight  or  nine  years  earlier,  yet  such 
words  as  derknessis  and  armeris,  for  the 
Latin  plurals  tenebrce  and  arma,  illustrate 
the  chief  defect  of  both  the  Wyclifite 
translations,  namely  a  failure  to  attain 
perfect  English  idiom. 

Purvey  seems  to  have  been  quite  con- 
scious of  the  excessive  literalness  of  the 
earlier  version  ( 1 380) ,  and  of  the  awkward- 
ness due  to  the  close  following  of  Latin 
idiom.  In  his  prologue,  after  describing 
how  he  had  toiled,  in  association  with 
others,  to  obtain  a  true  Latin  text,  and 
to  elucidate  its  difficulties,  he  proceeds  to 


The  Wyclif  Bible  39 

lay  down  important  principles  of  Biblical 
translation  which  have  never  been  super- 
seded.   Among  them  are  : 

First,  to  translate  as  clearly  as  possible 
according  to  the  sense,  and  not  merely 
according  to  the  words. 

Secondly,  to  make  the  sentence  at 
least  as  'open'  in  English  as  in  Latin,  that 
is,  to  have  due  regard  to  English  idiom. 

Nevertheless,  it  may  be  affirmed  that 
both  the  Wyclifite  versions  are  far  in- 
ferior in  ease  and  idiomatic  character 
to  the  Old  English.  It  cannot  be  said 
that  scholars  are  agreed  as  to  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Wyclifite  versions  upon 
Tindale  and  the  Authorized  Version  ;  but 
it  is  pretty  clear  that  Tindale  was  in- 
fluenced by  them  to  a  moderate  extent, 
and  that  expressions  of  great  force  and 
beauty  have  occasionally  been  appropri- 
ated from  Wyclif  by  the  Authorized 
Version,    either    mediately    or    directly. 


40  The  Wyclif  Bible 

One  or  two  instances  may  suffice  :  John  4. 
14,  *a  well  of  water  springing  up  into 
everlasting  life*  comes,  through  Tindale, 
from  both  the  Wyclifite  versions  ;  i  Cor. 
2.  ID,  'the  deep  things  of  God/  which 
Tindale  renders,  *the  bottom  of  God's 
secrets,'  and  the  Rheims  version,  *the 
profimdities  of  God.'  How  easy  it  is  to 
go  stylistically  astray  in  such  matters  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  two  versions, 
both  published  within  the  last  ten  years, 
have,  respectively,  for  the  first  passage 
above,  *a  spring  of  water  .  .  .  welling 
up  for  enduring  life,'  and  'a  foimtain  .  .  . 
of  water  springing  up  for  the  Life  of  the 
ages' ;  and,  for  the  second,  'the  profoimd- 
est  secrets  of  God,'  and  'the  depths  of  the 
divine  nature.' 

The  Wyclifite  version  of  Exod.  19. 
16,  18,  19  is  subjoined,  the  spelling  being 
modernized,  and  modem  renderings  being 
indicated  : 


Caxton's  Selections  41 

Wyclif  (earlier) 

And  now  the  third  day  was  come,  and  the 
morning  [morewe,  morrow]  tide  was  ftill  cleared  ; 
and  lo!  thunders  began  to  be  heard  and  lightnings 
[leyteSf  from  the  Old  English  word  above]  to 
shine,  and  the  most  thick  cloud  to  cover  the 
hill  ;  and  the  cry  of  the  trump  more  hideously 
made  noise,  and  the  people  dreaded  that  was  in 
the  tents.  .  .  .  And  all  the  hill  of  Sinai  smoked, 
because  [for  thi  that]  the  Lord  descended  upon  it 
in  fire ;  and  the  smoke  rose  [steyde]  up  of  it  as  of 
a  furnace,  and  all  the  hill  was  full  fearful ;  and 
the  sound  of  the  trump  little  by  little  [litil  mele, 
'littlemeal,'  like  piecemeal]  sprang  into  more, 
and  longer  was  stretched. 

A  hiindred  years  later  than  the  Wy clifite 
versions  (November  20,  1483),  Caxton 
published  his  Golden  Legend,  in  which 
he  had  inserted  considerable  portions  of 
the  Pentateuch  and  the  Gospels,  on  the 
basis,  probably,  of  Peter  Comestor's 
Historia  Scholastica,  Caxton's  theory  of 
translation,  if  we  may  judge  from  the 


42  Caxton's  Language 

preface  to  his  Eneydos^  was  to  seek  a 
mean  between  'fair  and  strange  terms,* 
by  some  regarded  as  'over  curious/  and 
such  'old  and  homely  terms'  as  were  now 
strange  and  almost  disused.  His  aim 
lay  in  the  wish  to  be  generally  imderstood. 
The  clearness  and  beauty  of  the  passage 
from  Exodus  will  be  readily  seen  : 

Caxton's  Golden  Legend  (spelling  modernized). 

When  the  third  day  came,  and  the  morning 
waxed  clear,  they  heard  thunder  and  lightning, 
and  saw  a  great  cloud  cover  the  mount ;  and  the 
cry  of  the  tnmip  was  so  shrill  that  the  people 
were  sore  afraid.  ...  All  the  mount  of  Sinai 
smoked,  for  so  much  as  our  Lord  descended  on 
it  in  fire  ;  and  the  smoke  ascended  from  the  hill 
as  it  had  been  from  a  furnace.  The  moimt  was 
terrible  and  dreadful,  and  the  sound  of  the 
trump  grew  a  little  more,  and  continued  longer. 

It  will  be  evident  that  the  vocabulary 
of  Caxton  is  drawn  from  the  same  source 
as  Tindale's,  while  it  does  not  greatly 


J 


The  Spirit  of  Tindale  43 

differ  from  Wyclif 's,  these  sources  being 
native  English  and  Old  French,  with  a 
very  slight  admixture  of  words  coming 
directly  from  the  Latin. 
i  It  is  agreed  on  all  hands  that  the 
English  of  the  Authorized  Version  is, 
in  essentials,  that  of  Tindale.  Minor 
modifications  were  made  by  translators 
and  revisers  for  the  next  eighty  years  or 
so ;  but,  speaking  broadly,  the  Authorized 
Version  is  Tindale's.  The  spirit  of  the 
man  passed  into  his  work,  and  therefore 
it  is  of  moment  to  ascertain  what  that 
spirit  was.     He  himself  may  tell  us  : 

(a)  His  version  was  to  be  made  for  all 
the  people,  even  the  humblest  : 

If  God  spare  me  life,  ere  many  years  I  will 
cause  the  boy  that  driveth  the  plow  to  know 
more  of  the  Scripttires  than  you  [a  theologian] 
do. 

To  the  same  effect  is  his  preference  oi favor 
to  grace,  love  to  charity ,  health  to  salvation. 


44  Tindale*s  Theories 

(b)  His  surrender  of  himself  to  God. 
Writing  to  a  friend  and  fellow-laborer, 
Frith,  he  says : 

The  wisdom  and  the  spirit  of  Stephen  be  with 
your  heart  and  with  your  mouth,  and  teach  your 
lips  what  they  shall  say,  and  how  to  answer  to  all 
things.  He  is  our  God  if  we  despair  in  ourselves, 
and  trust  in  him  ;  and  his  is  the  glory.     Amen. 

(c)  His  theory  regarding  the  meaning  to 
be  conveyed  : 

Believing  that  every  part  of  Scripture  had  one 
sense  and  one  only,  the  sense  in  the  mind  of  the 
writer. 

(d)  On  Greek  and  Hebrew  with  refer- 
ence to  English  : 

The  Greek  tongue  agreeth  more  with  the 
English  than  with  the  Latin.  And  the  properties 
of  the  Hebrew  tongue  agreeth  a  thousand  times 
more  with  the  English  than  with  the  Latin. 
The  manner  of  speaking  is  both  one,  so  that  in  a 
thousand  places  thou  needest  not  but  to  trans- 


Tindale's  Fidelity  45 

late  it  into  the  English  word  for  word,  when  thou 
must  seek  a  compass  in  the  Latin,  and  yet  shalt 
have  much  work  to  translate  it  well-favoredly, 
so  that  it  have  the  same  grace  and  sweetness, 
sense  and  pure  understanding,  with  it  in  the 
Latin  as  it  hath  in  the  Hebrew.  A  thousand 
parts  better  may  it  be  translated  into  the 
English  than  into  the  Latin. 

{e)  His  scruptdous  fidelity  : 

I  call  God  to  record,  against  the  day  we  shall 
appear  before  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  give 
reckoning  of  our  doings,  that  I  never  altered 
one  syllable  of  God's  word  against  my  con- 
science, nor  would  to  this  day,  if  all  that  is  in 
earth — whether  it  be  honor,  pleasure,  or  riches 
— might  be  given  me. 

The  observation  of  Augustus  Hare,  in 
speaking  of  the  Jacobean  revisers,  is 
applicable  to  Tindale  :  '  They  were  far 
more  studious  of  the  matter  than  of  the 
manner  ;  and  there  is  no  surer  preserva- 
tive against  writing  ill,  or  more  potent 


46  Tindale's  Humility 

charm  for  writing  well/  And  so  Gold- 
smith :  '  To  feel  your  subject  thoroughly, 
and  to  speak  without  fear,  are  the  only 
rules  of  eloquence.  *  Elsewhere  Goldsmith 
says  :  '  Eloquence  is  not  in  the  words, 
but  in  the  subject ;  and  in  great  concerns, 
the  more  simply  anything  is  expressed, 
it  is  generally  the  more  sublime.' 
(/)  His  humility  : 

And  if  they  perceive  in  any  places  that  I  have 
not  attained  the  very  sense  of  the  tongue,  or 
meaning  of  the  Scripture,  or  have  not  given  the 
right  English  word,  that  they  put  to  their  hand 
to  amend  it,  remembering  that  so  is  their  duty 
to  do. 

Again,  he  speaks  of  himself  as  '  evil- 
favored  in  this  world,  and  without  grace 
in  the  sight  of  men,  speechless  and  rude, 
dull  and  slow-witted.' 

If  we  add  that  he  was  an  assiduous 
and  minute  student,  went  directly  to  the 
originals,  and  employed  the  best  helps 


\ 


Tindale's  Version  47 

attainable,  all  that  is  needful  will  have 
been  said. 

TiNDALE. 

And  the  third  day  in  the  morning  there  was 
thunder  and  lightning,  and  a  thick  cloud  upon 
the  mount,  and  the  voice  of  the  horn  waxed  ex- 
ceeding loud,  and  all  the  people  that  was  in  the 
host  was  afraid.  .  .  .  And  Mount  Sinai  was 
altogether  on  a  smoke,  because  the  Lord  de- 
scended down  upon  it  in  fire  ;  and  the  smoke 
thereof  ascended  up,  as  it  had  been  the  smoke  of 
a  kiln,  and  all  the  mount  was  exceeding  fearful. 
And  the  voice  of  the  horn  blew,  and  waxed 
louder  and  louder. 

Before  we  pass  from  Tindale  to  the 

Authorized  Version,  three  other  trans- 
lations must  be  mentioned.  Coverdale's 
natiire  may  be  indicated  by  the  fact  that 
it  is  he  who  introduced  into  the  language 
the  expressions  '  loving  kindness '  and 
'tender  mercy.'  Tindale's  nature  was 
masculine,  Coverdale's  of  a  more  feminine 


48  The  Coverdale  Bible 

cast.  His  translations — of  which  the 
Prayer  Book'  version  of  the  Psalter  is  the 
most  generally  known — ^possess  a  more 
flexible  and  musical  rhythm  than  Tin- 
dale^s.  Tindale  wrote  (Liike  2.  12)  : 
'And  take  this  for  a  sign ;  ye  shall  find 
the  child  swaddled,  and  laid  in  a  manger.' 
When  this  has  passed  imder  Coverdale's 
revising  hand,  it  stands  :  'And  take  this 
for  a  sign :  ye  shall  find  the  child  wrapped 
in  swaddling  clothes,  and  laid  in  a  manger.' 
Westcott  has  truly  said  of  Coverdale  that 

*  The  Prayer  Book  excels  in  the  music  of  its  phrasing. 
One  of  Cranmer's  collects,  that  for  the  first  Sunday  in 
Advent,  will  serve  as  a  specimen  (c.  a.d.  1546)  :  'Almighty 
God,  give  us  grace  that  we  may  cast  away  the  works  of 
darkness,  and  put  upon  us  the  armor  of  light,  now  in  the 
time  of  this  mortal  life  in  which  Thy  Son  Jesus  Christ  came 
to  visit  us  in  great  humility  ;  that  in  the  last  day ,  when  He 
shall  come  again  in  His  glorious  majesty  to  judge  both  the 
quick  and  the  dead,  we  may  rise  to  the  life  immortal, 
through  Him  who  liveth  and  reigneth  with  Thee  and  the 
Holy  Ghost,  now  and  ever.' 

Coverdale  has  been  regarded  by  some  as  the  originator 
of  the  tendency  to  translate  the  same  word  in  different 
ways  at  different  times  ;  but  this  tendency  existed  as  far 
back  as  the  Old  English  period. 


The  Geneva  Bible  49 

he  'allowed  himself  considerable  freedom 
in  dealing  with  the  shape  of  the  original 
sentences.  .  .  .  There  is  in  every  part  an 
endeavor  to  transfuse  the  spirit  as  well 
as  the  letter  into  the  English  rendering/ 

A  peculiarity  of  the  Genevan  version 
is  that  it  attains  a  special  accuracy, 
sometimes  at  the  Expense  of  literalness. 
One  example  will  suffice.  Tindale  trans- 
lates Luke  II.  17  :  'One  house  shall  fall 
upon  another.'  The  Geneva  Bible  has  : 
'A  house  divided  against  itself,  falleth.' 

The  Rheims  and  Douay  versions  in- 
clined to  Latinize,  whereas  earlier  versions 
had  sought  to  employ  simpler  words, 
generally  of  native  origin.  Thus,  Tin- 
dale  had  written  (Rom.  10.  10)  :  *To 
knowledge  [i.e.  acknowledge]  with  the 
mouth  maketh  a  man  safe.'  The  Rheims 
version  has  :  'With  the  mouth  confession 
is  made  to  salvation ' ;  the  second  Wyclifite 
version  had  rendered  the  same  Latin  by  : 


50    Authorized  Version  Selective 

'By   mouth    knowledging    is   made    to 
health/ 

The  translators  of  the  Authorized 
Version  endeavored,  out  of  the  Eng- 
lish renderings  with  which  they  were 
acquainted,  compared  with  the  originals 
and  the  principal  versions  into  other 
tongues,  ancient  and  modem, .  to  frame 
one  which  shotild  stupass  them  all  by 
appropriating  the  chief  excellences  of 
each — so  far,  at  least,  as  these  excellences 
could  be  harmonized  with  one  another.  In 
so  far  as  it  did  thus  reconcile  pre-existing 
differences,  it  became  a  powerful  agent 
in  establishing  imity  throughout  the 
English  nation,  for,  to  borrow  the  words  of 
the  historian  Gardiner  :  'In  its  production 
all  sectarian  influences  were  banished, 
and  all  hostilities  were  mute.'  Whereas 
previously  one  Bible  had  been  read  in 
church,  and  another  at  home,  now  all 
parties    and    classes    turned    with    one 


Promotive  of  Harmony         51 

accord  to  the  new  version,  and  adopted  it 
as  their  very  own.  It  thus  became  bound 
up  with  the  life  of  the  nation.  Since  it 
stilled  all  controversy  over  the  best 
rendering,  it  gradually  came  to  be  accepted 
as  so  far  absolute  that  in  the  minds  of 
myriads  there  was  no  distinction  between 
this  version  and  the  original  texts,  and 
they  may  almost  be  said  to  have  believed 
in  the  literal  inspiration  of  the  very 
words  which  composed  it. 

It  must  not  be  overlooked  that  the 
Authorized  Version  profited  by  all  the 
controversy  regarding  previous  trans- 
lations. Practically  every  word  that 
could  be  challenged  had  been  challenged. 
The  fate  of  a  doctrine,  even  the  fate  of  a 
party,  had  at  times  seemed  to  depend 
upon  a  phrase.  The  whole  ground  had 
been  fought  over  so  long  that  great  inti- 
macy with  the  Bible  had  resulted.  Not 
only  did  the  mind  take  cognizance  of  it, 


52  A  National  Classic 

but  the  emotions  seized  upon  it;  much 
of  it  was  literally  learned  by  heart  by 
great  numbers  of  the  English  people. 
Thus  it  grew  to  be  a  national  possession ; 
and  literature  which  is  a  national  posses- 
sion, and  by  its  very  nature  appeals  to  the 
poor  and  lowly,  is  in  truth  a  national 
classic.  No  other  book  has  so  penetrated 
and  permeated  the  hearts  and  speech  of 
the  English  race  as  has  the  Bible.  What 
Homer  was  to  the  Greeks,  and  the  Koran 
to  the  Arabs,  that,  or  something  not  un- 
like it,  the  Bible  has  become  to  the 
English.     Huxley  writes  : 

Consider  the  great  historical  fact  that  for 
three  centuries  this  book  has  been  woven  into 
the  life  of  all  that  is  best  and  noblest  in  English 
history  ;  that  it  has  become  the  national  epic  of 
Britain,  and  is  as  familiar  to  noble  and  simple, 
from  John-o'-Groat's  House  to  Land's  End,  as 
Dante  and  Tasso  once  were  to  the  Italians  ;  that 
it  is  written  in  the  noblest  and  purest  English, 


Comparison  with  Homer        53 

and  abounds  in  exquisite  beauties  of  pure  literary 
form  ;  and,  finally,  that  it  forbids  the  veriest 
hind  who  never  left  his  village  to  be  ignorant 
of  the  existence  of  other  countries  and  other 
civilizations,  and  of  a  great  past  stretching  back 
to  the  furthest  limits  of  the  oldest  civilizations 
of  the  world. 

The  classical,  yet  popular,  character 
of  the  Bible  has  been  already  insisted  on. 
Two  or  three  comparisons  will  further 
illustrate  this.  Chateaubriand,  render- 
ing the  pathetic  address  of  Ruth  to 
Naomi  in  the  Homeric  manner,  shows 
how  prolix  and  comparatively  languid 
Homer  can  be.  It  might  be  objected  that 
Chateaubriand  has  travestied  Homer, 
but  it  cannot  be  said  that  Thucydi- 
des,  the  consummate  Greek  historian, 
travesties  himself.  Compare  the  close 
of  a  Thucydidean  speech,  being  about 
one-sixth  of  the  harangue  of  Brasidas 
to  his  soldiers  before  their  engagement 


54    Comparison  with  Thucydides 

with  the  lUyrians  (Thuc.  4.  126),  with  the 
whole  of  Gideon's  address  to  his  men 
before  their  encoimter  with  the  Midiani- 
tes  (Judges  7.  17,  18)  : 

If  you  repel  their  tumtdtuous  onset,  and,  when 
opportunity  offers,  withdraw  again  in  good 
order,  keeping  your  ranks,  you  will  sooner  arrive 
at  a  place  of  safety,  and  will  also  learn  the  lesson 
that  mobs  like  these,  if  an  adversary  withstand 
their  first  attack,  do  but  threaten  at  a  distance 
and  make  a  flourish  of  valor,  although  if  he 
yields  to  them  they  are  quick  enough  to  show 
their  courage  in  following  at  his  heels  when  there 
is  no  danger. 

Look  on  me,  and  do  likewise  ;  and  behold, 
when  I  come  to  the  outside  of  the  camp,  it  shall 
be  that,  as  I  do,  so  shall  ye  do.  When  I  blow 
with  a  trumpet,  I  and  all  that  are  with  me,  then 
blow  ye  the  trumpets  also  on  every  side  of  all  the 
camp,  and  say,  The  sword  of  the  Lord,  and  of 
Gideon. 

The  speech  of  Jahaziel  (2  Chron.  20. 
15-17)  seems  real.     It  is  thus  that  an 


An  Energetic  Speech  55 

energetic    man    would    speak.     It    runs 
(with  modernized  punctuation)  : 

Hearken  ye,  all  Judah,  and  ye  inhabitants  of 
Jerusalem,  and  thou  king  Jehoshaphat.  Thus 
saith  the  Lord  unto  you:  Be  not  afraid  nor 
dismayed  by  reason  of  this  great  multitude,  for 
the  battle  is  not  yours,  but  God's.  To-morrow- 
go  ye  down  against  them.  Behold,  they  come 
up  by  the  cliff  of  Ziz,  and  ye  shall  find  them  at 
the  end  of  the  brook,  before  the  wilderness  of 
Jeruel.  Ye  shall  not  need  to  fight  in  this  battle. 
Set  yourselves,  stand  ye  still,  and  see  the 
salvation  of  the  Lord  with  you,  O  Judah  and 
Jerusalem.  Fear  not,  nor  be  dismayed.  To- 
morrow go  out  against  them,  for  the  Lord  will 
be  with  you. 

Coleridge  was  so  impressed  with  the 
vigor  of  Biblical  style  as  to  affirm  : 

After  reading  Isaiah,  or  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews,  Homer  and  Virgil  are  disgustingly 
tame  to  me,  and  Milton  himself  barely  tolerable. 

Shakespeare,  by  common  consent,  is 
the  first  name  in  Enghsh  literature.     Of 


56  Shakespeare's  Prose 

Shakespeare's  prose,  Churton  Collins 
makes  five  classes,  the  last  being  what 
he  calls  highly  wrought  poetical  prose. 
'This,*  he  says,  'is  the  style  where  Shake- 
speare has  raised  prose  to  the  sublimest 
pitch  of  verse/  As  the  first  illustration 
of  it  he  chooses  Hamlet  2,2,  310-321  : 

That  goodly  frame,  the  earth,  seems  to  me  a 
sterile  promontory  ;  this  most  excellent  canopy, 
the  air,  look  you,  this  brave  overhanging  firma- 
ment, this  majestical  roof  fretted  with  golden 
fire,  why,  it  appears  no  other  thing  to  me  than 
a  foul  and  pestilent  congregation  of  vapors. 
What  a  piece  of  work  is  a  man!  how  noble  in 
reason!  how  infinite  in  faculty!  in  form  and 
moving  how  express  and  admirable!  in  action 
how  like  an  angel!  in  apprehension  how  like  a 
god!  the  beauty  of  the  world!  the  paragon  of 
animals !  And  yet,  to  me,  what  is  this  quintes- 
sence of  dust?     Man  delights  not  me. 

That,  indeed,  is  fine  rhetoric,  but  how 
apostrophic  it  is,  and  how  repetitious! 
'  Canopy ' — '  firmament ' — '  roof  * — thus  it 


Shakespeare  and  the  Bible      57 

is  amplified.  Again,  even  if  we  can 
distinguish  between  *  noble  in  reason/ 
'infinite  in  faculty/  and  'in  apprehension 
.  .  .  like  a  god/  how  shall  we  make  clear 
to  ourselves  the  difference  between  'mov- 
ing' and  'action'?  And  what  an  anti- 
climax— 'the  paragon  of  animals'! 

This  is  Shakespeare,  though,  to  be  sure, 
Shakespeare  putting  words  into  the 
mouth  of  a  dramatic  character.  And 
now,  merely  as  a  composition,  compare 
Psalms  8.  3-8  : 

When  I  consider  thy  heavens,  the  work  of  thy 
fingers,  the  moon  and  the  stars  which  thou  hast 
ordained,  what  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful 
of  him?  and  the  son  of  man,  that  thou  visit  est 
him?  For  thou  hast  made  him  a  little  lower 
than  the  angels,  and  hast  crowned  him  with 
glory  and  honor.  Thou  madest  him  to  have 
dominion  over  the  works  of  thy  hands  ;  thou 
hast  put  all  things  under  his  feet  :  all  sheep  and 
oxen,  yea,  and  the  beasts  of  the  field ;  the  fowl  of 
the  air,  and  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  whatsoever 
passeth  through  the  paths  of  the  seas. 


58      Shakespeare  and  the  Bible 

Does  *moon  and  stars'  appeal  less 
forcibly  and  pictorially  to  the  imagination 
than  *  golden  fibre*?  Shakespeare's  'ma- 
jestical  roof  is  unrelated  to  man  ;  the 
*  heavens'  of  the  Biblical  passage  are 
knit  up  into  the  same  fabric  with  him. 
In  the  Psalm  there  is  nothing  hyperbolical. 
Man  is  not,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  'infinite 
in  faculty,'  nor  may  we  assume  a  universal 
consensus  that  he  is,  above  everything 
else,  'the  beauty  of  the  world.'  In  the 
Psalm  he  is  subordinated  to  the  heavens, 
only  to  be  exalted  over  the  creatures,  and 
when  he  is  said  to  be  'a  little  lower 
than  the  angels,'  the  moderation  of  tone 
is  more  permanently  effective  than  Shake- 
speare's 'in  action  how  like  an  angel!' 
which  seems  merely  a  piece  of  somewhat 
hysterical  exaggeration — though  perhaps 
dramatically  in  keeping — to  one  who 
has  formed  his  conception  of  angels  from 
the  Bible,  Dante,  or  Milton,  from  the 


Milton,  Scott,  Wordsworth      59 

Hermes  of  the  ancient  poets,  or  even  from 
Shakespeare's  own  Hne  in  this  same  play, 

And  flights  of  angels  sing  thee  to  thy  rest. 

Milton  does  not  scruple  to  declare : 
'  There  are  no  songs  to  be  compared  with 
the  songs  of  Zion,  no  orations  equal  to 
those  of  the  prophets/  As  Sir  Walter 
Scott  drew  near  his  beautif til  and  affecting 
end,  he  requested  Lockhart  to  read  to 
him.  When  asked  from  what  book,  he 
replied : '  Need  you  ask?  There  is  but  one.' 
To  Wordsworth,  'the  grand  storehouses 
of  enthusiastic  and  meditative  imagina- 
tion .  .  .  are  the  prophetic  and  lyrical 
parts  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.' 

Ruskin  ascribed  the  best  part  of  his 
taste  in  literatvire  to  his  having  been 
required  by  his  mother  to  learn  by  heart 
certain  chapters  of  the  Bible,  adding : 
*I  coimt  [it]  very  confidently  the  most 
precious,    and,    on    the  whole,   the   one 


6o      Ruskin,  Carlyle,  Macaulay 

essential  part  of  all  my  education.' 
Carlyle  said :  *  In  the  poorest  cottage  .  .  . 
is  one  Book,  wherein  for  several  thousands 
of  years  the  spirit  of  man  has  foimd  light, 
and  nourishment,  and  an  interpreting 
response  to  whatever  is  deepest  in  him/ 
y  Newman  speaks  of  the  Scriptures  as 
'compositions  which,  even  htimanly  con- 
sidered, are  among  the  most  sublime  and 
beautiful  ever  written.'  Macaulay  re- 
garded the  Bible  as  'a  book  which,  if 
everything  else  in  our  language  should 
perish,  would  alone  suffice  to  show  the 
whole  extent  of  its  beauty  and  power'; 
and  elsewhere  he  says  of  Bunyan  :  'He 
had  studied  no  great  model  of  composi- 
tion, with  the  exception — ^an  important 
exception  undoubtedly  —  of  our  noble 
translation  of  the  Bible.'  Froude  speaks 
of  its  '  mingled  tenderness  and  majesty, 
the  Saxon  simplicity,  the  preternatural 
grandeur.' 


•V 


Revisers*  Opinion  6i 


This  is  the  testimony  borne  by  the 
translators  of  the  Revised  Version  of  the 
New  Testament  : 

We  have  had  to  study  this  great  Version 
carefully  and  minutely,  line  by  line  ;  and  the 
longer  we  have  been  engaged  upon  it  the  more 
we  have  learned  to  admire  its  simplicity,  its 
dignity,  its  power,  its  happy  turns  of  expression, 
its  general  accuracy,  and,  we  must  not  fail  to 
add,  the  music  of  its  cadences,  and  the  felicities 
of  its  rhythm.  / 

Swift  writes,  almost  exactly  a  hundred 
years  after  the  date  of  the  Authorized 
Version  :  'The  translators  of  our  Bible 
were  masters  of  an  English  style  much 
fitter  for  that  work  than  any  which  we 
see  in  our  present  writings,  which  I  take 
to  be  owing  to  the  simplicity  that  runs 
through  the  whole* ;  and  again,  of  the 
changes  which  had  been  introduced  into 
the  language  :  *  They  have  taken  off  a 
great  deal  from  that  simplicity  which  is 


62  Swift,  Hallam 

one  of  the  greatest  perfections  in  any 
language/ 

Hallam,  though  he  admits  that  the 
style  of  the  Authorized  Version  is  *the 
perfection  of  our  English  language,*  has 
often  been  censured  for  declaring  that  the 
English  of  the  Jacobean  version  '  is  not 
the  English  of  Daniel,  or  Raleigh,  or  Ba- 
con*— ^in  fact,  that  'it  is  not  the  language 
of  the  reign  of  James  I.'  Yet  this  is 
strictly  true,  and  for  the  reason  that  he 
assigns,  namely,  'in  consequence  of  the 
principle  of  adherence  to  the  original  ver- 
sions which  had  been  kept  up  since  the 
time  of  Henry  VIH.'  It  is  true,  in  a 
sense,  that  no  great  writer^s  diction  i-s  of 
his  age,  any  more  than  he  himself  is  of 
his  age.  Coleridge  declares  of  Shake- 
speare, 'His  is  not  the  style  of  the  age,' 
just  as  Ben  Jonson  declared  of  the  poet 
tdmself ,  '  He  was  not  of  an  age/     Indeed, 


Not  of  an  Age  63 

it  seems  as  though  this  were  the  necessary 
condition,  at  least  in  the  case  of  great 
writers,  of  being  'for  all  time,'  that  one 
shall  not  be  too  much  'of  an  age.' 

Great  thought  and  great  feeling  draw 
their  own  appropriate  diction  to  them- 
selves, somewhat  as  the  magnet  attracts 
steel  filings  ;  and  after  the  appropriate 
diction  has  thus  been  attracted,  the 
imion  between  it  and  the  substance  of 
discourse  seems  to  be  almost  indissoluble. 
It  is  as  if  a  soul  had  been  clothed  upon 
with  flesh.  From  that  moment,  nothing 
can  be  changed  with  impunity  ;  if  you 
wrench  away  a  word,  it  is  as  if  a  portion 
of  the  life-blood  followed  it.  Now  the 
time  when  the  soul  of  the  Bible  began  to 
take  upon  itself  flesh  for  us  was  nearly 
three-quarters  of  a  century  before  the 
work  of  the  Jacobean  revisers.  But  since 
the  life-process,  so  to  speak,  did  not  ab- 
solutely  begin   with   Tindale,    it   really 


64         Diction  Homogeneous 

extended  over  a  considerably  longer 
period  than  that  named  above,  especially 
if  we  consider  that  Wyclif  was  concerned 
in  it ;  for  if  the  Wyclifite  versions  be  in- 
cluded, the  Vulgate  can  hardly  be  ignored, 
so  that  eventually  the  Septuagint  must 
be  regarded  as  having  initiated  a  process 
which  the  Jacobean  revisers  completed. 

If  the  substance  of  the  Bible  may 
thus  be  compared  to  a  soul  which  was 
to  be  fitted  with  a  body,  it  will  follow 
that  the  diction  will  differ  somewhat 
from  member  to  member,  even  as  it  did 
in  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  originals  ;  but 
it  will  also  follow,  in  proportion  to  the 
assumed  relation  and  interdependence 
of  these  parts  or  members,  that  this 
diction  will  have  a  certain  homogeneity, 
so  that  a  radical  change  in  the  vocabulary 
at  any  point  woiild  be  likely  to  throw 
that  part  out  of  keeping  with  the  rest. 
The   truth   of   this   was   recognized   by 


So  Few  Words  65 

EUicott,  when,  in  1870,  he  advised  fu- 
ture revisers  to  *  limit  the  choice  of  words 
to  the  vocabulary  of  the  present  [Author- 
ized] version,  combined  with  that  of  the 
versions,  that  preceded  it ;  and  in  alter- 
ations preserve  as  far  as  possible  the 
rhythm  and  cadence  of  the  Authorized 
Version.' 

It  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  the 
effects  wrought  by  the  English  Bible 
should  require  so  few  words.  The  editors 
of  the  New  English  Dictionary  reckon 
the  words  in  A  to  L,  inclusive,  as  160,813, 
of  which  number  113,677  are  what  they 
call  main  words.  Shakespeare,  it  has 
been  estimated,  employs  about  21,000 
(others  say  15,000,  or  24,000);  Milton, 
in  his  verse,  about  13,000.  The  Hebrew 
(with  the  Chaldee)  of  the  Old  Testament, 
according  to  the  computations  of  Leus- 
den,  comprises  5,642  words,  and  the  New 
Testament,  it  is  said,  has  4,800,  while  the 


66    Capacities  of  Simple  Words 

whole  English  Bible,  if  we  may  trust 
Marsh,  employs  about  6,000.  Making 
all  due  allowances  for  the  *myriad-mind- 
edness'  of  a  Shakespeare,  there  is  still 
room  for  the  conclusion  that  the  capacities 
of  words,  especially  of  the  simpler  words, 
are  much  greater  than  is  believed  by 
those  who  use  a  large  and  heterogeneous 
vocabulary.  In  this  respect  there  is  not 
so  much  difference  between  native  English 
and  Norman  French  words  as  is  com- 
monly supposed.  In  the  following  ei^ 
amples,  the  words  clean,  pure,  and  clear 
translate  the  same  Greek  adjective,  and 
all  seem  equally  expressive,  or  nearly 
so : 

Rev.  15.  6 :  And  the  seven  angels  came  out 
of  the  temple,  .  .  .  clothed  in  pure  and  white 
linen. 

Rev.  19.  8  :  And  to  her  was  granted  that 
she  should  be  arrayed  in  fine  linen,  clean  and 
white. 


Influence  upon  Literature       67 

Rev.  21.  18  :  And  the  city  was  pure  gold, 
like  unto  clear  glass. 

That  in  this  sense  they  are  fairly  inter- 
changeable may  be  seen  by  comparing 
Job  15.  15,  'Yea,  the  heavens  are  not 
clean  in  his  sight,'  with  Tennyson's 

Make  thou  my  spirit  pure  and  clear 
As  are  the  frosty  skies. 

This  brings  us  to  the  question  of  the 
influence  of  the  Authorized  Version  upon 
subsequent  English  literature — ^an  in- 
fluence which  cannot  always  be  precisely 
distinguished  from  that  of  the  Bible  in 
some  earlier  form.  When  Spenser  or 
Shakespeare,  for  instance,  uses  the  Bible, 
it  is  of  course  not  the  Jacobean  version, 
and  now  and  then  the  same  thing  will  be 
true  at  a  later  period,  as  in  some  of 
Milton's  writing.  The  more  important 
modes  in  which  the  Bible  has  affected 
English  literature  are  these  : 


68    Scriptural  Language  Borrowed 

(a)  The  themes  are  Scriptural,  and  the 
language  partly,  at  times  even  largely, 
Scriptural.  Such  is  the  case  in  sermons, 
versified  Psalms,  paraphrases  of  Scriptural 
narrative,  devotional  essays,  and  the  like. 
An  excellent  example  is  Bunyan's  Pil- 
grim's Progress.  This  book  apart,  how- 
ever, there  are  few,  if  any,  examples  of  a 
work  which  has  been  accepted  as  pure 
literature  employing  Biblical  diction  to 
anything  like  such  a  degree.  Other 
attempts,  such  as  the  Book  of  Mormon, 
tend  to  the  grotesque  or  ludicrous,  be- 
cause  of  the  disparity  between  the  lan- 
guage and  the  ideas  suggested.  A  diction 
resembling  that  of  the  Bible  in  its  con- 
creteness  and  simplicity,  and  in  its 
slightly  archaic  character,  has,  however, 
of  late  been  employed  with  good  effect  in 
prose  versions  from  authors  like  Homer. 

(6)  Quotations  from  the  Bible  are 
introduced,  sometimes  slightly  changed, 


Allusions  69 

into  secular  writings.  The  object  is  to 
substantiate  a  statement,  or  to  awaken 
a  train  of  associations  favorable  to  the 
author's  purpose.  These  can  be  found  in 
almost  any  author,  but  they  are  more 
common  in  the  nineteenth  century  than 
earlier,  being  especially  used  by  writers 
who  have  at  heart  the  reform  or  eleva- 
tion of  society  or  individuals.  Such  are 
Shelley,  Dickens,  Carlyle,  Ruskin,  Tenny- 
son, the  Brownings,  Jean  Ingelow,  and 
Longfellow — ^to  mention  only  a  few  of 
the  more  obvious  names. 

{c)  Allusions,  or  considerably  modified 
quotations,  are  introduced  freely,  and 
may  be  foimd  on  the  editorial  page  of 
many  a  newspaper.    Thus,  one  reads : 

The  full  measure  of  justice  is  not  meted  out 
to  them. 

They  sold  their  birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage. 
They  have  fallen  among  thieves. 

In  the  last  three  books  which  the  present 


70  Allusions 

writer  has  read  for  amusement,  he  has 
been  interested  to  note  quotations  and 
allusions  of  this  nature.  In  one  of  them, 
a  recent  book  on  life  in  an  Italian  province, 
63  references  were  foimd  ;  in  the  second, 
a  recent  work  on  the  life  of  wild  animals, 
12;  in  the  third,  a  novel  by  Thomas 
Hardy,  18.    From  the  first : 

Ah  yes,  she  is  beautiftd  exceedingly,  the 
Queen  among  cities,  the  king's  daughter,  adorned 
as  a  bride:  glorious  without  and  within. 

She  spoke  a  broken  English,  compared  with 
which  the  tongues  of  men  and  angels  alike  fell 
short. 

Things  which  their  fathers  have  told  and 
taught  them. 

She  wanted  a  tale  about  these  'sons  of  the 
burning  coal.'  [Job  5.  7],  as  the  Hebrews  called 
them. 

From  the  second  : 

He  has  learned  imconsciously  the  strength  of 
lying  still. 


Familiar  Phrases  71 

The  little  wild  things  would  hear  the  low 
tinkle  of  invitation  to  all  who  were  athirst,  and 
would  come  swiftly  to  drink. 

From  the  third  : 

To  be  .  .  .  near  her,  yet  unseen,  was  the  one 
ewe-lamb  of  pleasure  left  to  him. 

I  have  certainly  got  thistles  for  figs,  in  a 
worldly  sense. 

That  mother  had  not  crowned  him  in  the 
day  of  his  espousals,  and  in  the  day  of  the  glad- 
ness of  his  heart. 

(d)  Many  phrases  have  grown  so  com- 
mon that  they  have  become  part  of  the 
web  of  current  English  speech,  and  are 
hardly  thought  of  as  Biblical  at  all, 
except  on  deliberate  reflection.  For  in- 
stance :  'highways  and  hedges';  'clear 
as  crystal' ;  'still  small  voice';  'hip  and 
thigh ' ;  'arose  as  one  man ' ; '  lick  the  dust ' ; 
*  a  thorn  in  the  flesh ' ;  'broken  reed ' ;  '  root 
of  all  evil';  'the  nether  millstone';  'sweat 
of  his  brow';  'heap  coals  of  fire';  'a  law 


\ 


72  Familiar  Phrases 

tinto  themselves';  'the  fat  of  the  land*; 
'dark  sayings';  'a  soft  answer*;  'a  word 
in  season*;  'moth  and  rust*;  'weighed  in 
the  balance  and  found  wanting*;  even 
such  colloquialisms  as,  'we  are  the 
people*  (cf.  Job  12.  2).  Many  more  of 
these  might  readily  be  quoted. 

(e)  Other  influences,  less  definitely 
measureable,  but  more  important,  re- 
main to  be  mentioned. 

Of  the  Bible  in  its  relations  to  religion, 
individual  conduct,  and  ideals  political 
and  social,  this  is  not  the  place  to  speak  ; 
yet  these  affect  literature  to  an  incalcu- 
lable extent,  if  they  do  not  even  provide 
its  very  substance.  Of  such  matters  as 
fall  within  the  scope  of  this  chapter — 
matters  of  vocabulary,  grammar,  idiom, 
and  style — something  may  briefly  be  said. 

In  the  first  place,  the  literary  influence 
of  the  Bible,  like  that  of  any  classic,  is 
distinctly  conservative.     The  reading  of 


Conservative  Influence         73 

it  tends  to  keep  alive  a  familiarity  with 
the  words  and  constructions  which  were 
current  when  the  English  Bible  grew  up, 
or  rather  of  such  of  these  words  and 
constructions  as  proved  most  conformable 
to  the  genius  of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek 
employed  in  the  sacred  writings.  As 
hinted  above,  this  influence,  in  conjimc- 
tion  with  that  of  the  Bible  in  the  sphere 
of  thought  and  emotion,  seems  to  have 
culminated,  if  its  culmination  be  not 
rather  a  matter  of  the  future,  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
The  result  is  that  many  terms  formerly 
regarded  as  awkward,  or  alien  to  the 
genius  of  the  language,  are  now  under- 
stood and  accepted.  Soon  after  the 
Authorized  Version  was  issued,  Selden 
thus  criticized  the  rendering  : 

The  Bible  is  rather  translated  into  English 
words  than  into  English  phrases.  The  Hebraisms 
are  kept,  and  the  phrase  of  that  language  is  kept. 


74  Hebraisms  Accepted 

A  typical  Hebraism  is  the  use  of  of  in 
such  phrases  as  'oil  of  gladness,*  'man 
of  sin,' '  King  of  kings' ;  but  who  has  any 
difficulty  with  them  now?  In  the  first 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  Hallam 
could  say  : 

It  abounds,  .  .  .  especially  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, with  obsolete  phraseology,  and  with  single 
words  long  since  abandoned,  or  retained  only  in 
provincial  use. 

At  present  this  is  no  truer  of  the  Bible 
than  of  Shakespeare,  if  as  true.  Our 
earlier  English  has  been  so  revived,  and 
rendered  so  familiar,  that  much  which 
needed  elaborate  explanation  in  the 
eighteenth  century  is  now  intelligible  to 
every  one.  As  Lightfoot  said  of  other 
objectors : 

The  very  words  which  these  critics  would  have 
ejected  from  our  English  Bibles  as  barbarous,  or 
uncouth,  or  obsolete,  have  again  taken  their 


Return  toward  Biblical  Diction    75 

places  in  our  highest  poetry,  and  even  in  our 
popular  language. 

Like  the  course  of  a  planet  round  the 
sun,  the  movement  of  English  diction, 
which  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries  was,  on  the  whole,  away  from 
that  of  the  Bible,  now  retvims  with  ever 
accelerating  speed  toward  it.  That  the 
movement  really  began  at  a  much  earlier 
date,  though  inconspicuously,  is  shown 
by  the  counsels  and  practice  of  Swift, 
and  by  the  circumstance  that  Challoner's 
Roman  Catholic  version  of  1763-4  aban- 
doned many  of  the  Latinisms  of  the 
Rheims  and  Douay  translations  in  favor 
of  the  simpler  language  of  the  Authorized 
Version. 

The  use  of  concrete  words  has  grown  in 
favor.  The  colorlessness,  vagueness,  and 
obscurity  of  abstract  terms,  and  of  con- 
ventional phraseology  whether  abstract 


-/ 


76  Huxley,  Bunyan 

or  not,  have  been  discredited.  Vividness, 
the  sense  of  reaHty,  have  more  and  more 
prevailed  in  literature — ^that  is,  in  non- 
technical writings. 

Simplicity  has  always  been  recom- 
mended by  the  example  of  the  Authorized 
Version,  and,  especially  since  the  age 
of  Wordsworth,  is  more  and  more  gain- 
ing upon  bombast  and  meretricious 
ornament. 

The  concreteness  and  simphcity  of  the 
Authorized  Version,  and  its  use  of  the 
homely  vernacular,  have  steadily  ap- 
pealed to  plain  people,  as  distinguished 
from  those  who  have  had  more  abimdant 
opportunities  of  education.  But  the  love 
of  the  humble  for  the  Bible  is  largely  due 
to  its  message  of  cheer  and  hope.  Huxley 
has  even  gone  so  far  as  to  call  the  Bible 
'the  Magna  Charta  of  the  poor  and  the 
oppressed.'  Two  men,  Bimyan  and  Lin- 
coln, who  educated  themselves  largely  by 


Lincoln,  Burns,  Carlyle         77 

means  of  the  Bible,  may  serve  as  ex- 
amples of  many  who  have  become  known 
to  posterity  for  their  inestimable  services 
to  their  race.  Both  are  famous  as  writers, 
and  the  best  writing  of  both  is  alive 
with  the  spirit  of  the  Bible.  Bunyan  has 
already  been  mentioned.  Of  Lincoln  it 
has  been  said  that  he  built  up  his  entire 
reading  upon  his  early  study  of  the  Bible: 

He  had  mastered  it  absolutely  ;  mastered  it 
"^v  as  later  he  mastered  only  one  or  two  other 
books,  notably  Shakespeare  ;  mastered  it  so  that 
he  became  almost  *a  man  of  one  book*;  .  .  .  and 
he  left  his  life  as  part  of  the  crowning  work  of 
the  century  that  has  just  closed. 

Burns  and  Carlyle  are  two  other  notable 
writers  who  point  the  same  conclusion, 
and  all  illustrate  Coleridge's  observation  : 

The  best  and  wisest  of  mankind,  the  kingly 
spirits  of  history,  enthroned  in  the  hearts  of 
mighty  nations,  have  declared  it  to  be  beyond 
compare  the  most  perfect  instrument,  the  only 


78  Whitman 

adequate  organ,  of  Humanity — the  organ  and 
instrument  of  all  the  gifts,  powers,  and  tenden- 
cies by  which  the  individual  is  privileged  to  rise 
above  himself. 

Of  Walt  Whitman,  the  American  who 
wished  to  be  known  as  the  poet  of  de- 
mocracy, it  has  been  authoritatively 
said  : 

His  own  essential  model,  after  all  is  said,  was 
the  rhythmical  patterns  of  the  English  Bible. 
Here  was  precisely  that  natural  stylistic  varia- 
tion between  the  'terrific,'  the  'gentle,*  and  the 
'inferior'  parts,  so  desired  by  William  Blake. 
Here  were  lyric  fragments,  of  consummate 
beauty,  imbedded  in  narrative  or  argumentative 
passages.  ...  In  this  strong,  rolling  music,  this 
intense  feeling,  these  concrete  words  expressing 
primal  emotion  in  daring  terms  of  bodily 
sensation,  Whitman  found  the  charter  for  the 
book  he  wished  to  write. 

The  elevation  and  nobility  of  Biblical 
diction,  assisted  by  its  slightly  archaic 


Chief  Bond  of  English  Race      79 

tinge,  have  a  tendency  to  keep  all  English 
style  above  meanness  and  triviality.  In 
the  words  of  Coleridge,  'intense  study 
of  the  Bible  will  keep  any  writer  from 
being  vulgar  in  point  of  style.' 

The  Bible  teaches  that  emotion  should 
not  habitually  be  divorced  from  thought, 
nor  thought  from  emotion — certainly  not 
in  literature.  Wherever  simple  language 
is  charged  with  noble  feeling,  stirs  the 
imagination,  is  directed  by  steady  and 
comprehensive  thought,  is  adapted  to 
actuate  the  will  in  the  direction  of  social 
and  individual  good,  and  is  concise  and 
pregnant.  Biblical  style  is  approximated, 
and  very  probably  Biblical  influence  is 
dominant. 

Finally,  the  English  Bible  is  the  chief 
bond  which  holds  imited,  in  a  common 
loyalty  and  a  common  endeavor,  the 
various  branches  of  the  English  race. 
The  influence  of  the  Bible  can  be  traced 


86    Chief  Bond" of  English  Race 

through  the  whole  course  of  English 
literature  and  English  civilization,  and, 
more  than  anything  else,  it  tends  to  give 
unity  and  perpetuity  to  both. 


M  Selection  from  the 
Catalogue  of 

C.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


Complete  Catalogues  •ent 
on  applicatioK. 


The  Cambridge  History 
of  English  Literature 

Edited  by  A.  W.  WARD,  Litt.D.,  Master  of 

Peterhouse,  and  A.  R.  WALLER,  M.A., 

Peterhouse 

To  be  in  14  Volumes,  Royal  8vo,  of  about  600  pages  each. 
Price  per  volume,  $2.50  net 


Stibscnptions  received  for  the  complete  work  at  $31,50  net, 
oayable  at  the  rate  of  $2 
lication  of  each  volume. 


payable  at  the  rate  of  $2,20  on  the  notification  of  the  pub- 
lice 


Vol.     I.    From  the  Beginning  to  the  Cycles  of  Romance. 
Vol.   II.    The  End  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Vol.  III.    Renascence  and  Reformation. 


Some  Comments  on  Volumes  I.  and  II* 

"  The  editors  of  this  volume  .  .  .  have  produced  a  book 
which  is  indispensable  to  any  serious  student  of  English  litera- 
ture. The  individual  articles  are  in  several  instances  contribu- 
tions of  great  value  to  the  discussion  of  their  subjects,  and  one  of 
them  is  of  first-rate  importance  in  English  literary  history." 

Ath^naum. 

''Specialization  has  left  the  detail  of  this  volume,  almost 
without  exception,  quite  irreproachable  and  masterly ;  a  fine 
editorial  sagacity  has  robbed  specialization  of  its  selfishness  and 
secured  a  cumulative  effect  of  remarkable  assonance  and  dignity. 
Of  the  deep  need  for  such  an  enterprise  as  this  there  was  never 
any  question;  that  it  would  certainly  achieve  a  strong  success  the 
reception  accorded  the  first  volume  made  entirely  dear.**— Ztz/^- 
pool  Couritr, 

Send  for  descriptive  circular 

0.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

New  York  London 


Works  in  Literature 


American  Literature,  1607-1885 

By  Prof.  Charles  F.  Richardson 

Dartmouth  College 
Part  I.     The  Development  of  American  Thought. 
Part  II.     American  Poetry  and  Fiction.     Popular  Edition.    stoIs. 
in  one  octavo,  $3.50. 
*'A  new  edition  of  Mr.  Richardson^s  fine  work  is  a  proof  that  it  is 
admired  and  trusted  by  its  public.     .     .     .  ^  Somethine  is  said,  carefully 
and  critically,  of  all  the  poets  and  prose  writers  that  have  been  worth 
mentioning  in  the  last  two  or  three  centuries." — Philadelphia  Bulletin. 

A  History  of  American  Literature 

By  F.  Moses  Coit  Tyler 

Professor  of  American  History,  Cornell  University. 
Colonial  Period.     1606-1765.     Students'  Edition.     Octavo,  $3.00. 
The  American  Revolution,  Z763--1783.     Students'  Edition.     Octavo, 
$3.00. 
"A  history  of  American  Literature  ample,  exact,  and  highly  enter- 
taining.    To    Professor    Tyler   every    one    seriously    concerned  about 
American  literature  must  go.     He  is  loyal  to  the  past  of  his  country; 
and  even  the  errors  of  loyalty  have  something  in  them  from  which  we 
may  learn." — Edward  Dowden,  in  The  Academy, 

A  Literary  History  of  the  English  People 

From  the  Earliest  Times  to  the  Present  Day. 
By  J.  J.  Jusserand 

French  Ambassador  to  the  United  States.     Author  of  "The  English 

Novel  in  the  Time  of  Shakespeare,"  etc. 
Vol.  I.     Prom   the   Origins  to  the   Renaissance.    Octavo,    with 

Frontispiece,  net,  $3.50. 
Vol.  II.     Fart  I.     From  the   Renaissance   to  the    Civil    War. 

Octavo,  with  Frontispiece,  net,  $3.50. 

In  Preparation 
Vol.  II.     Part  3.     From  the  Civil  War  to  Pope. 

**Mr.  Jusserand's  qualifications  for  the  task  which  he  has  undertaken 
are  of  a  nigh  order.  There  are  few  foreigners,  and  certainly  very  few 
Frenchmen,  who  have  so  intimate  a  knowledge  of  English  life;  he  has 
already  gained  great  distinction  as  an  original  investigator  in  more  than 
one  period  of  English  literary  history;  and  although  his  point  of  view  in 
the  present  work  is  unmistakably  that  of  a  Frenchman,  he  shows  a  degree 
of  sympathetic  insight  which  is  seldom  met  with  in  foreign  critics  of  lit- 
erature."— London  Athenaunt. 

A  History  of  Comparative  Literature 

By  Frederick  LoU^e 

Authorized  Translation  by  M.  A.  Power,  M.D.     8°.     Net,  $1.75 
A  brief  but  luminous  survey  of  an  immense  subject,  tracing  out  clearly 
the  origin,  the  progress,  and  the  interdependence  of  the  world's  literary 
developments.     M.  Loliee  steers  his  way  with  consummate  skill  between 

generalization  and  detail,  and  his  critical  summaries  are  as  suggestive  as 
ley  are  succinct. 

NEW  YORK    G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS    london 


Works  in  Literature 


Anthology  of  Russian  Literature 

From  the  Earliest  Period  to  the  Present  Time 

By  Leo  Wiener 

Assistant  Professor  of  Slavic  Languages,  Harvard  University 

Part  I.    Prom  the  Tenth  Century  to  the  Close  of  the  Eighteenth 

Century. 
Part  II.    The  Nineteenth  Century.     %  vols.,  8vo,  with  photogravure 

frontispieces,  about  looo  pp.,  dlt  tops.    (By  mail,  $6.50.)    Net,  $6.00. 

Sold  separately.     Each,  net,  I3.00. 

"Probably  the  first  really  adequate  anthology  of  Russian  literature  in 
English.  It  will  prove  a  welcome  addition  to  the  books  available  to  the 
student  of  Russian  letters.  The  arrangement  is  admirable." — Philadtl- 
^hia  Ledger, 

History  of  German  Literature 

By  John  G.  Robertson 

Professor  in  the  University  of  Strassburg 

Octavo.     Net,  $3.50 

"Dr.  Robertson's  book  is  worthy  of  genuine  praise.  It  is  the  result 
of  most  conscientious  study  and  very  wide  reading;  is  written  without 
any  personal  bias,  and  in  a  most  sympathetic  spirit ;  avoids  all  fanciful- 
ness  and  flippancy,  and  strives  with  remark?^le  success  for  completeness 
of  information  as  to  names,  dates,  synopses  of  books,  and  similar  detail. 
.  .  .  This  manual  is  a  thoroughly  trustworthy  Baedeker  for  the 
familiar  routes  in  German  literature,  superseding  once  for  all  the  sorry 
lot  of  dilettanteisk  compilations  which  have  served  as  guidebooks  in  this 
domain  dimng  the  last  generation." — The  Nation. 

Tlie  Lost  Art  of  Readinfi 

(Mount  Tom  Edition) 

I.  The  Child  and  the  Book 

A  Manual  for  Parents  and  Teachers  la  Schools  and 
Colleges 

II.  The  Lost  Art  of  Readinij 

or.  The  Man  and  The  Book 

By  Gerald  Stanley  Lee 

New  Edition.    Two  volumes.    Crown  8vo.    Sold  separately. 
Each,  net,  $1.50 

"  I  must  express  the  joy  I  have  had,  the  enthusiasm  I  have  felt,  in 
gloating  over  every  page  of  what  I  believe  is  the  most  brilliant  book  of 
any  season  since  Carlyle's  and  Emerson's  pens  were  laid  aside. 
It  IS  full  of  humor,  rich  in  style,  and  eccentric  in  form,  all  suffused  with 
the  perfervid  genius  of  a  man  who  is  not  merely  a  thinker  but  a  force." 
— Wm.  Sloane  Kennedy  in  Boston  Transcript. 


NEW  YORK    G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS    London 


Works  in  Literature 


Books  and  Their  Makers  During  the  Middle  A^es 

A  Study  of  the  Conditions  of  the  Production  and  Distribution  of 

Literature  from  the  Pall  of  the  Roman  Empire  to  the 

Close  of  the  Seventeenth  Century 

By  GEO.  HAVEN  PUTNAM.  Lltt^D. 

Id  two  volumes,  8vo,  cloth  extra  (sold  separately),  each  $2.50 

Vol.  I.    476-X600  Vol.  II.    X5OO>x709 

**  It  is  seldom  that  such  wide  learning,  such  historical  grasp  and  insight, 
have  been  employed  in  their  service."— v4//aff/(f  Monthly, 

Authors  and  Publishers 

A  MANUAL  OP  SUGGESTIONS  FOR  BEGINNERS  IN 
LITERATURE 
Comprising  ft  description  of  publishing  methods  and  arrang^e- 
ments,  directions  for  the  preparation  of  manuscript  for  the 
press,  explanations  of  the  details  of  book-manufacturing,  in- 
structions for  proof-reading,  specimens  of  typography,  the 
text  of  the  United  States  Copyright  Law,  and  information 
concerning  International  Copyrights,  together  with  gtneral 
hints  for  authors. 

By  O.  H.  P.  and  J.  B.  P. 

Seventh  Edition,  re-written  with  additional  material. 

8vo,  gilt  top,  net,  $x.75 

"  This  handy  and  useful  book  is  written  with  perfect  fairness  and 

abounds  in  hints  which  writers  will  do  well  to  *  make  a  note  of.'    .     .     . 

There  is  a  host  of  other  matters  treated  succinctly  and  lucidly  which  it 

behooves  beeinners  in  literature  to  know,  and  we  can  recommend  it  most 

heartily  to  Vitm*^ -^London  Spectator. 

Authors  and  Their  Public  In  Ancient  Times 

A  Sketch  of  Literary  Conditions  and  of  the  Relations  with  the 

Public  of  Literary  Producers,  from  the  Earliest  Times 

to  the  Pall  of  the  Roman  Empire 

By  GEO.  HAVEN  PUTNAM,  Litt.D. 

AuUior  of  "The  Question  of  Copyright,"  "Books  and  their  Makers 
During  the  Middle  Ages,"  etc. 
Second  Edition,  Revised,  xamo,  gilt  top,  $x.50 
*'The  work  shows  broad  cultivation,  careful  scholarly  research,  and 
original  thought.    The  style  is  simple  and  straightforward,  and  the  vol- 
ume is  both  attractive  and  valuable. "^i?(VAm<7Mk/  Times, 

The  Censorship  of  the  Church  of  Rome  and  Its 

Influence  upon  the  Production  and  the 

Distribution  of  Literature 

A  Study  of  the  History  of  the  Prohibitory   and  Expurgatory 

Indexes,  together  with  some  Consideration  of  the  Effects  of 

Protestant  Censorship  and  of  Censorship  by  the  State 

By  QEO.  HAVEN  PUTNAM,  Litt.D. 

Two  volumes.  8vo.  Uniform  with  "Books  and  Their  Makers." 
Per  volume,  net,  $3.50 
"  A  work  of  remarkable  erudition.  ...  I  find  it  characterized  by 
rare  large-mindedness  and  historic  impartiality.  .  .  .  The  subject  is 
one  into  which  few  writers  have  had  the  courage  to  delve._  The  book 
should  prove  of  much  interest  to  scholars.  .  .  .  The  subject  has  been 
treated  m  a  masterly  manner."— 7<3A«  Ireland^  Archbishop  0/ Minnesota. 

New  York         G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS         London 


^^'. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


26Mar'57BJ 


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